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Photo By Haley Owens For small business owners and payroll managers, staying up-to-date on the latest superannuation changes is essential. And, with the Australian Superannuation Guarantee (SG) set to increase from 10.5% to 11% from 1st July 2023, it’s important to understand what this means and how it could affect your business. As an employer, this increase, and subsequent increases, will have an impact on your payroll management and accounting…  Read more

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has refreshed the way that taxpayers claim deductions for costs incurred when working from home. The changes better reflect contemporary working from home arrangements. The taxpayer can either use the “actual cost” or “fixed rate” method. Only the fixed rate method is changing. The revised fixed rate method applies from 1 July 2022 and can be used when taxpayers are working out deductions for their 2022–23…  Read more

For individuals, the key considerations in determining Australian Tax Residency are:  Source – residents are subject to tax on income from all sources, and capital gains from all sources, whereas non residents are only subject to tax on income from Australian sources, and in respect of capital gains, only if the relevant Capital Gains Tax (CGT) asset is Taxable Australian property (TAP);  Tax free threshold – residents are…  Read more

Can I claim car expenses when I drive my car from home to work? The answer is NO because the travel is private even if you do minor tasks on the way to work, such as deposit cash in the bank or collecting the mail. You can claim car expenses if or when: You travel between two places of employment and neither of them is your home You drive from…  Read more

Have you heard of the “carry forward unused concessional super contributions” rule? At the end of the financial year, many look to purchase new income-producing assets or make prepayments to reduce taxable income. However, prepayments are just a tax deferral rather than a tax reduction strategy. Making additional concessional super contributions is a tax reduction strategy as concessional super contributions are a tax deduction up to their cap. If you…  Read more

ATO 2022 Focus Areas Key targets for the Australian Taxation Offices (ATO) for the 2022 tax year include work-from-home employees or workers, property inventors, and cryptocurrency traders. A detailed and good record-keeping habit will leave you off the ATO radar. Work-from-home Apart from good record keeping, you will need to be logical in claiming the expenses. The ATO would expect to see a reduction in motor vehicles, dry-cleaning, and other…  Read more

If putting together your estate plan isn’t at the top of your priority list, you’re not alone. It’s something that people typically don’t want to do–for a variety of reasons. It’s not fun to think about what happens after we’re gone, and we often believe we have a lot of time to get our affairs in order. No matter how large or small your estate is, you need a plan…  Read more

Fuel Tax Credit Rate Hike Fuel tax credit rates increased on 2 August 2021 in line with fuel excise indexation. If you claim less than $10,000 in fuel tax credits per year, you can use simplified methods including: the rate that applies at the end of your BAS period the Basic method for heavy vehicles to calculate your claims if you use a heavy vehicle. You can find the updated…  Read more

Fuel Tax Credit Rate Hike Fuel tax credit rates increased on 2 August 2021 in line with fuel excise indexation. If you claim less than $10,000 in fuel tax credits per year, you can use simplified methods including: the rate that applies at the end of your BAS period the Basic method for heavy vehicles to calculate your claims if you use a heavy vehicle. You can find the updated…  Read more

Income Statements can be found in myGov in July Since Single Touch Payroll (STP) came into place in 2019, payment summaries (previously called Group Certificates) now known as Income Statements can be accessed through myGov. These are no longer directly provided by employers. This will be prepared and ready for employees by 14 July if your or 31 July, depending on if the employer has 20+ employees or 19 or…  Read more

The answer to one of the most frequent questions we get asked every year has been summarised by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) into the 3 Golden Rules for deductible expenses. You must have spent the money yourself , ie, paid for the expense, and weren’t reimbursed It must directly relate to earning your income You must have a record to prove it. Whilst rule 1 and 3 are relatively clear…  Read more

Good news! This week the government announced that the Instant Asset Write-off has been extended for six months, taking the initiative to 31 December 2020. Australian businesses with less than $500 million annual turnover will be able to take advantage of the write-off and invest in assets to support their business. This government initiative is designed to help the economy reopen and boost economic growth. The instant asset write-off applies…  Read more